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plumage is concerned, differ very conspicuously as regards the spotted breast. The specimen 

 above described seems to be quite young, having been shot by Dr. Kriiper on the 27th of 

 July 1869. Two birds of the same sex, obtained by Mr. Robson on the 22nd of September, 

 are very similar, but appear to be more thickly spotted, and have the breast-markings more 

 clearly ferruginous ; while another Beyrout specimen in the Norwich Museum (undated) differs 

 in having more rufous thighs, more distinct markings on the under tail-coverts, and has the 

 wing tinged with grey. The adult plumage is assumed in the following spring, but is not com- 

 plete by the beginning of May, as a specimen in Canon Tristram's collection, killed on the third 

 of that month, shows us. This bird has remains of the spotted plumage intermingled with the 

 delicate rufous cross-barring which forms the characteristic of the adult male, while several grey 

 feathers are to be seen on the nape and back. Two other specimens in the Norwich Museum 

 exhibit precisely the same peculiarities; and, judging from these examples, it would appear that 

 the full plumage is assumed by a direct moult. In the young males also the cross-barring on the 

 tail is very plain, but is decidedly more obscure in the adult birds. 



The range of the present bird seems to extend from Central Russia to Syria, occurring in 

 Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine, and perhaps Persia; for we coincide in the belief 

 expressed by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub that the bird recorded by De Filippi from the latter 

 country, under the name of Micronisus badius, is most probably the present species. Although 

 we by no means agree in the mersion of so many species under the heading of N. badius by the 

 last-named authors in their celebrated work on the Birds of Eastern Africa, we fully indorse 

 their opinion as to the specific distinctness of the present bird, which, by its large size, differs 

 from all its congeners. 



It was first discovered by M. Severzow in the province of Woronetz, where it breeds ; but 

 according to this author it does not extend into the province of Moscow. 



Messrs. Elwes and Buckley, in their paper on the Birds of Turkey, state : — 

 " We have no doubt that this Sparrow-Hawk, and probably another species which we are 

 not yet able to identify, are not uncommon in the east of Turkey ; and the present species has 

 been killed, both by Mr. Robson and M. Alleon (Rev. Zool. 1867, p. 3), near Constantinople. In 

 Mr. Robson's collection are two small Hawks which certainly appeared to belong to another 

 species, possibly Accipiter gabar; but we cannot be sure of this." M. Alleon has given (I. c.) a 

 description of an adult male killed by him at Demisdji, on the 16th of September 1865, out of a 

 considerable flock of Sparrow-Hawks and Buzzards. This place is situated on the European 

 shore of the Black Sea, about eight kilometres from the entrance to the Bosphorus. Dr. Kriiper 

 has obtained it in Asia Minor, particularly near Smyrna, from the neighbourhood of which place 

 it has also been procured by Mr. Gonzenbach, and forwarded by the latter collector to England. 

 It breeds in Greece, as will be seen by the excellent account of its nesting-habits given below by 

 Dr. Kriiper, and forwarded to us for the purposes of the present work by his friend Mr. Schluter, 

 of Halle ; the Norwich Museum also has a specimen from Athens. Mr. Lauretta has sent a fine 

 series of the present species from Beyrout, in Syria ; and Canon Tristram has himself collected it 

 in Palestine. He writes : — " Icannot say whether this pretty little Sparrow-Hawk is a migrant ; 

 but we certainly never obtained it until April. Still it may have often escaped our notice, and 

 been taken for the common Sparrow-Hawk in winter, especially near Jericho. The few we 



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